>I tego właśnie nie rozumiem - dlaczego nie mówimy:
>She expected to be met at the airport.?
>Przecież: "the action of the perfect infinitive is an earlier action; it >happens before the time of the main verb". Nie mogła najpierw być spotkana, a >dopiero potem tego oczekiwać... Nie rozumiem tego :(
Now the hard part begins, what ? But don’t overanalyze the aspect of “would be” actions in your sentences as it would more likely to evoke playing the time machine by Wells than getting to the crux. :)
Compare these two:
1.She expected to be met at the airport. – her “beef-cake” met her and took her
home to do what comes naturally. Shtup was in the offing ! :)
2.She expected to have been met at the airport. – she was waiting at the
airport for the said tail-chaser to merely “warm her chair” but the bastard
didn’t show up. She had to take a cab.
But I think it’s not all tersely succinct when it comes to the perfect infinitive itself and as judging by the following excerpts :
H.W. Fowler
http://www.bartleby.com/116/214.html
Francis James
http://www.jstor.org/pss/1316520?cookieSet=1
Hope it's of some help to you.